(Note: some spoilers may lie ahead. I promise to be gentle though.)

We saw WALL*E today at the local cinema, which has stadium seating but is lacking the automatic Cone of Silence that you'd like to lower on certain members of the viewing audience. Okay, I made that up. I would actually like to lower the Pillar of Fire on certain members of the viewing audience, but Cone of Silence sounded more merciful. WALL*E, as you've no doubt heard, is mostly dialog-free for the first 30-40 minutes, and I think some people feel uncomfortable about that. I mean, a movie with no talking? So they respond by filling in dialog themselves. I am not kidding you. The people behind us (A father, mother and daughter, I believe) would insert little witticisms and explanations as though they were narrating. I confess on a personal level that I wasn't as patient and understanding and love-my-neighborish as I should have been. (Outwardly I was fine; I did not pull out my nunchaku and pummel them into unconsciousness like the little man inside me was suggesting.)

Anyway, WALL*E is brilliant. It is so good that afterwards I was sad because I don't work for Pixar or Disney. Don't get me wrong: I love my job and where I work now and well it's only slightly behind Disney/Pixar. And there's the freelance work and the blogging and playing Scrabulous on Facebook. But if I was looking for green grass on the other side of the fence, well Disney/Pixar would be a good choice.

The movie itself is about a robot left behind on a dystopian Earth to clean up humanity's garbage. And there's a whole lot of it. The inhabitants of Earth have left long ago and now live aboard a space ship, spending their days in hover chairs, watching television and getting their meals from biggie style soda cups. The story kicks into high gear when a ship lands on Earth and an amazing, sleek, explorer robot (EVE) makes her appearance.

WALL*E is rated G and is accessible to kids and adults alike. They story seems more mature than previous Pixar outings (less A Bug's Life or Toy Story, and more reminiscent of the adult themes of The Incredibles and Ratatouille) but works on many levels. Kids will see a movie about a robot that gets caught up in a grand adventure; adults won't miss the message of WALL*E that never gets preachy but makes it's point. And WALL*E himself is an instantly lovable character with much to admire: A particularly poignant scene wherein WALL*E demonstrates devotion is really heart-warming. I won't say anything else for fear of spoiling one of the movie's best moments.

The fans on IMDb have given WALL*E a 9.3/10, which ranks it as the 110th best movie of all time, and critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has it at 97% with 134 reviews logged. The movie is 103 minutes and comes with a Pixar short ("Presto") that is also wonderful. If you get the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua, just look away.